


Not So Utterly Alone Anymore

by TwoKidsInATrenchCoat



Category: Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice (TV 1989), Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: F/M, My First Fanfic, Please read summary, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2020-10-06 04:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20501135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat/pseuds/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat
Summary: What if, after the snake incident, the Maitlands and Juno managed to successfully banish Betelguese from the the house? Lydia and Betelguese never meet aside from the brief encounter with the snake. But despite what the Maitlands may have wished, Lydia’s interactions with the paranormal were far from over after that.The young girl soon finds out that she’s a little more strange and unusual than previously thought. She can control the dead, a necromancer. This new discovery quickly puts her in the Neitherworld’s limelight and, unfortunately, draws the attention of The Ghost with the Most.





	1. Chapter 1

“It’s too late Charles. I’m sorry.”

“No,” Lydia thought to herself, “this can’t be happening!” Somebody had to do something, but her parents and their business partners had already seemed to accept that there was nothing to be done. Even the Maitlands just held hands and looked into each other's eyes, submitting themselves to their fate.

She was alone, utterly alone. There was no one for Lydia to turn to except herself to fix that sentient lump of hairgel’s mistake. But what could she do? She wasn’t special, she wasn’t a hero, she was just pathetic little Lydia.

The young girl returned from her mental panick to the present where still nothing was being done to help the decaying Maitlands. If she was going to do something then she was going to have to do it soon. The ghosts had a minute and thirty seven seconds before they completely evaporated into nothing.

Wait. Hold on. Where the fuck did that number come from? She had no idea, but for whatever reason she just knew with absolute certainty that it was the correct countdown time. 

While living in New York, Lydia had learned to trust her gut instinct, it had saved her multiple times before in the past. Maybe now it could save the Maitlands from their doom. So she quieted her mind, trying to listen for whatever it was that had given her the countdown clock. When she found it, she focused on pulling it out from her subconscious and into the forefront of her mind.

All of a sudden, everything clicked into place. It was all so clear to Lydia now and she knew exactly what to do...or maybe she had gone insane, really it was impossible to tell.

She stood up from her seat, put one hand out in front of her, and stared at the Maitlands, putting all of her willpower into reversing the process. At first nothing happened and Lydia began to feel stupid, but then a little bit of the dust that the Maitlands were sheading began to float up and reform back onto Barbra’s hand. She was so overjoyed that it caused her to break concentration, reversing her progress. “Shit!” Lydia cursed, and went back to focusing on her task. At her curse all eyes sitting at and floating above the table turned to her.

“Pumkin, what are you-” “Shut up!” Lydia snapped venomously, leaving her father speechless. She immediately felt bad, never before had she ever been so crass with him, but it couldn’t be helped. Reversing an exorcism is not something that you can do while simultaneously having a nice chat. In fact, as Lydia was quickly beginning to find out-it hurt!

The young girl had to close her eyes because of the pain. Even though her brain was the only muscle being used, she ached all over. Lyida felt like she was pushing a gigantic boulder up a hill, like in the myth of Sisyphus. But unlike her mythical counterpart (who she was really beginning to feel sympathy for) she couldn’t afford to let her boulder roll back down the hill. She had to keep on pushing. 

After what felt like an eternity, she somehow found the strength to open her eyes again, and the sight that met her filled her with hope once more. It was working! No longer where the Maitlands decaying away.Their skin was no longer dust and their hair no longer wilted. They were almost whole!

Her body was shaking and she was sweating as if she was running a marathon, but she didn’t even care anymore. “Come on Lydia. Keep going! Almost there!” and then just like that it was done. 

Once again Lydia didn’t know how she could tell but she knew for a fact that the exorcism had been fully reversed and the Maitlands would be okay.

Upon seeing her ghostly godparents staring down at her in amazement, Lydia smiled and let out a cry of joy before promptly collapsing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn’t originally going to add any more chapters, but all of your comments have been so sweet and supportive. I don’t really intend to finish this story, but I have a bunch of half finished chapters that I plan on completing and then I’ll probably put this premise up for adoption for any other creator that wants to use it.

The first thing Lydia’s brain registered was the smell of smoke. “Wait…was the house on fire?!” Lydia shot upright in her bed, but her plans of escape were quickly foiled by her blanket tangling up her failing limbs. Crashing to the ground with a groan, it took Lydia a whole minute to escape her fluffy straightjacket. The now freed tried to stand up, but pain shot all throughout her body. What was happening to her?!

“Lydia, Lydia! It’s okay. Calm down.” Through her panicked state she could hear Barbra’s voice which did manage to calm her down some.

“Lydia’s awake?!”

“I heard a crash. Is she okay?”

“Pipe down, all of you!” Lydia did not recognize the last voice and was immediately put on edge again.

“Wha-what happened?” Lydia asked as she located the newcomer with her eye. Said newcomer was a woman, who’s cigar appeared to be the source of the smoke Lyida had smelled. She merely stayed silent and continued to smoke as Barbra shooed Adam, Delia, and her father out of the doorway, saying something about Lydia needing room to breath. 

The strange woman was dressed in a beige pantsuit with a pearl necklace and earrings. But her most notable feature was the gash across in her throat where the smoke was coming out of when she exhaled. Lydia stared in fascination and wanted to ask questions but wasn’t sure if it would be rude or not.

“It’s okay Lydia. This is Juno, our case worker,” Barbra tried to reassure, taking Lydia’s silence for fear. Juno nodded in greeting, and started her interrogation after Lydia managed to sit up on the edge of her bed despite her stiff muscles, “Tell me what you remember.”

The memories that Lydia had been trying to repress ever since she woke up flashed through her mind. The pain, the panic, the sight of her only two friends in the world slowly dissolving. At the sight of Lydia’s pained face, Juno hummed in acknowledgement, “I’m going to take that as an ‘everything.’” It suddenly occurred to Lydia to ask, “H-how did I do that?”

Instead of answering, Juno looked contemplative. Assessing her next words and how she was going to say them. In a pained voice Barbra tried to remain poite, “Juno, please just tell Lydia what you told me and Adam.” Juno sighed, “Right, I don’t really see the point in beating around the bush. So here it is, kid, you’re a necromancer.” Lydia might have noticed Barbra’s cringe at the caseworker’s bluntness, but her mind was too busy racing at a million miles an hour.

“A necromancer? That’s someone who can communicate with the dead right? Is that why I can see Mr. and Mrs. Maitland?”

“Yes, but a small percentage of the world's population can also see the dead. A necromancer can do more. You can do more. You hold a lot of power over the dead. You can not only sense us, and see us, but control and manipulate us to your will. That’s how you managed to reverse the exorcism.” Juno glared down at the teen almost defensively, as if she expected Lydia to jump up and tie puppet strings to her and make her do a dance.

“I’m here to take you to the Neitherworld.” Lydia opened her mouth to protest but Juno cut her off with a very tired voice. “Not permanently, but there’s somebody there that will be able to tell you a lot more about your powers than I will be able to.”

Lydia looked to Barbra for approval. Barbra smiled and nodded, but it did little to mask the nervousness that was clearly written across her face. As Lydia was turning back to Juno, she caught her reflection in the mirror of her vanity. She was a complete mess! Hair sticking in all directions, rumbled up pajamas, and dark circles under her eyes despite the rest she had gotten. She couldn’t meet the person that could tell her about her powers like this!

“Can I have twenty minutes to get ready?” Lydia tried to ask politely, worried that the caseworker would say no and just drag her off to the Neitherworld as she was.

Fortunately Juno just sighed again and muttered something about how much paperwork this whole situation was going to be for her. “Twenty minutes, and then knock three times on your vanity mirror,” Juno instructed and then levitated up and passed through the mirror’s glass.

After reassuring Barbra that she was indeed fine, her ghostly godmother left to go update all of her other family members on the situation. Lydia sighed, got up, and began stretching out her muscles properly. What was the standard etiquette for meeting the overlords of the underworld? After a couple minutes of overthinking it, Lydia decided to keep it simple. She changed into black leggings and black shoes, and a black long sleeve shirt. As she brushed her hair Lydia looked into her vanity’s mirror and questioned who and what could possibly be on the other side. God? The devil? Something that would drive her insane if her unworthy human eyes were to gaze upon it?

Before anxiety could take over her thought process, she hastily tied her hair in an updo with a purple ribbon and knocked three times on the mirror.

Immediately, Juno replaced her reflection, “Ready?” “Ready as I’ll even be,” Lydia answered with a weak smile, “Sooo do I just go through, or…” Juno looked like she wanted to roll her eyes. “Put this on,” she said as her hand passed through the glass like it was water and shoved a red and black bundle at her. After fiddling around, to unfold it, Lydia realized that it was a hooded poncho.

“You will need to keep this on at all times when visiting the Neitherworld. The living are not supposed to be here, so wearing this will protect you from...the side effects that might occur otherwise.” 

Lydia nodded, put it on, and took Juno's outstretched hand.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Lydia was pulled through and found herself in an office waiting room. Immediately, the people waiting on the couches and chairs perked up at the new arrivals. Their curiosity peaked when they saw Lydia’s chest moving and realized that she was breathing. Scandalized whispers were exchanged and Lydia felt her face flush underneath all the scrutiny.

Juno, on the other hand, didn’t pay the onlookers any mind and started walking to a door that led further into the office building, yelling over her shoulder for Lydia to keep up.

Passing through the threshold, Lydia did her best to multitask between keeping up with Juno’s brisk pace and taking everything in. The office building was absolutely fascinating. There were skeletons at the desks, click clacking away at their typewriters; people attached to ropes, being moved along lines that ran across the ceiling to deliver paperwork. If Lydia was enthralled by an office that was overcrowded with paperwork, she could only imagine what other wonders lied in store for her.

They eventually found their way to Juno’s office. “We’ll get going again soon kid. Just need to drop off some paperwork.” Lydia nodded and her eyes wandered the desk as Juno waged a war against some filing cabinets that were already overflowing with papers. So many people died each second and if she was a necromancer, that meant that she had control over everybody that was already here and everybody that would end up here. She wasn’t sure if she wanted that sort of responsibility.

She shuttered when thinking about how defensive Juno had become when telling her about her power. Would the others here feel that way too? She had never fit in in the living realm and when she had written her suicide note, she had been hopeful that she might be able to fit in with the dead, but it didn’t look like she would be getting that either. She had no intention of jumping off a bridge anymore, but it stung her to know that she was probably going to be utterly alone here too.

Lydia came back to reality when her eyes wandering the desk came across a paper that had a familiar address. It was her address. Juno’s back was turned, so Lydia took her chance and picked up the paper to quickly skim over it. It was about a snake attacking the house...oh right that snake. Juno spotted her looking at the paper and snatched it away. “That doesn’t concern you!” she snapped just a bit too quickly. Given the snake's interest in her, Lydia felt like it absolutely did concern her. It's the snake that nearly killed her father. Its words rang in her ears,  _ “We’ve come for your daughter Chuck.” _ She wanted to protest, but she had a feeling that the caseworker wasn’t about to let anything slip. Maybe she could ask somebody else here?

As they made their way out of Juno’s office and further into the building, Lydia started to feel like they were entering a new plane of reality (which wasn’t out of the realm of possibility). The walls appeared slanted, the checkered floor seemed to stretch on forever, the doors came in all shapes and sizes. The place was weird, yet, Lydia felt strangely at home among all these creepy and nonsensical things.

The living girl couldn’t have told you if the trip took a minute or an hour (time didn’t seem to function the same here). She and Juno spent the whole trip in silence, except for one point. Part way through, Lydia glanced at a door that had been left open, except it wasn’t a door, it was a window. Through it, she saw thousands of miserable spirits floating in a dark abyss. She gasped in horror, their misery and hopelessness was palpable to her. She felt that feeling when she had seen the Maitlands starting to evaporate and stepped forward to help these ones too when Juno dragged her back by her hood and pulled down the shade over the window.

“Don’t even think about it kid. You may be a necromancer, but you’re not trained yet. That first time was beginner’s luck. Besides, the majority of them were cast in there for a reason.”

“What kind of reason?” Lydia asked. “Oh the usual. Rapists, killers, essentially anyone who caused more people to come over here. And they can rot away there for all I care. All that damned extra paperwork it causes me.”

Lydia stared back at that room with new eyes, slightly afraid. Juno sighed, “Look kid, I hate to break it to you, but there is no Heaven or Hell. There are good people here as well as bad ones. And the good ones can help you, but the bad ones won’t hesitate to hurt you, so you need to be careful.”

Lydia saw her chance, “What about that snake that attacked us?” Juno sighed, taking a long drag of her cigarette first, “He is none of your concern anymore. We ensured that he won’t be coming back. With any luck, you’ll never even have to see him again.”

Lydia decided to leave well enough alone and nodded. She’d have the chance to meet plenty of other fascinating spirits, she didn’t need to fixate herself on one that she’d probably never meet.

The pair continued walking until they got to a door with a big exit sign over it. Juno punched in a long and complicated code. Lydia gave her a questioning look. Juno replied, “Gotta make sure that our workers don’t think that it’s okay to run off, slackers.” Lydia was about to question why any of the workers would be desperate enough to run away, but she was stunned into silence when Juno pushed open the door to reveal the rest of the Neitherworld.

Lydia gasped at its beauty. The sky was a rust color. The roads were winding all across, the buildings were stacked ontop of eachother in a kooky manner that made them seem like they were going to suddenly fall over. 

Juno set forward and, although she knew it was rude, Lydia stared not only at the places, but at the people. The vast majority of them didn’t even look like the dead people that had been in the waiting room. They looked more like monsters. Extra limbs and eyes, misshapen bodies, and pastel skins.

They arrived at a psychiatrist’s office. Lydia looked at Juno questioningly. Surely this couldn’t be their stop. But Juno marched on in. The found themselves in another waiting room, this one more traditional, with a carpeted floor, comfy chairs, and magazines. Juno sat down and started working on some paperwork that she had been carrying in a briefcase. Lydia sat down and grabbed a magazine entitled  _ Tomb _ . What it was about, Lydia would never know, because just as she was about to open it, the door swung open. A man with light blue skin and green hair, wearing a barrel with suspenders stepped out the door crying happy tears, “Oh thank you doctor!” A voice from inside the office replied, “Yes, yes, now get out of here. I have other clients to deal with.” And a bill was thrown at the man’s face and Lydia couldn’t see how much it was, but the man left the office that day, crying no-so-happy tears.

“Next client!” the same voice called. Juno got up and Lydia followed her into the room where they found a short man with a big crack down his head. He wore thick, round glasses and a brown suit. He was sitting behind a big desk with a nameplate in front that read: Dr. Zigmund Void.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hello I am Dr. Zigmud Void,” the man greeted with a handshake, “And you must be the necromancer I’ve been hearing so much about. Ms. Ditz was it?” “It’s Deetz,” Lydia corrected.

Juno cut in, “Remember to keep your mouth shut about this,” she warned the doctor, “We don’t need too many people knowing what she can do.” Dr. Void nodded, but didn’t seem too concerned and immediately turned back to Lydia. “Fascinating. We haven’t had a necromancer for a long, long time.”

Lydia was flattered but still confused, “Thank you uhhh, but might I ask...Why am I here at a psychiatrist’s office?” “Well it’s my job to help people train their minds. And your powers are linked to your mind. As soon as you master that, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the Neitherworld,” Dr. Void replied, “It’ll take a lot of practice. Think of your mind and your magic as a muscle you need to strengthen. You passed out from overexerting yourself. But if you get stronger, you could reverse an exorcism with the wave of your hand.”

Lydia was amazed. She was almost tempted to deny it. There was no way that she could be some sort of all powerful being, yet she had no reason to believe that Dr. Void was lying. But at the same time, did she really want to be a force to be reckoned with. At the end of the day, she knew that she just wanted to be Lydia.

After some talk, Dr. Void managed to convince Lydia to learn how to use her powers so that she can at least use them in self defense. Juno’s words about how there were some people here that would hurt her still rang in her ears.

He gave Lydia a book to study and told her to knock on the mirror three times when she had finished reading all of it. Lydia internally groaned at the thought of extra homework. It was a rather large book, but the doctor assured her that he had faith in Lydia, “After all I’ve heard that you’ve managed to read  The Handbook for the Recently Deceased cover to cover. Most of the dead themselves can’t get through that thing. You’ll have no problem with this.”

Although Lydia was beginning to curse her high lexile score, she just nodded politely, and went home to begin reading.

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a rundown of how the Neitherworld works.

“Okay, so the power structure is like a pyramid,” Lydia recited. Dr. Void nodded and motioned for her to keep going.

“Ghosts are at the bottom being the majority and the least powerful. Mr. and Mrs. Maitland would be here.”

“Yes. Although I hope you realize I have no idea who those people are,” Dr. Void replied.

Lydia kept on going, “Ghosts will eventually move up the pyramid and become ghouls after their 125 year huanting period, with the exception of suicide victims who are sent straight to work at the office,” Lydia shivered thinking about the fate that she had unknowingly avoided, “The haughting period is essentially supposed to change their brain so that they loose some of their humanity and their minds adjust to the way time and reality functions for ghosts. The mental loss of their humanity can also result in physical changes making them look less human.

“Most ghouls live out the rest of their afterlives out in the Neitherworld, but they can ascend a step further to the level of a demon. They do this by tapping into their darker side and can do things such as be heard by the living, but not seen, and use this ability to cause havoc. They are also a lot stronger and faster than a typical ghoul.

“Then, at the very top of the pyramid, is the poultrygeist. They’re extremely rare. These ghosts are the most powerful of them all.

“They can appear before ghosts and mediums without being summoned. However they can not interact with the physical world without some sort of contract. A famous example of this would be Bloody Mary. Who could only be freed from the mirror she was summoned from by saying her name three times.”

“Wonderful!” Dr. Void told her. 

“Will I ever meet a polyrigist?” Lydia wondered.

“Probably not. The Neitherworld tries to rid itself of any of them as soon as they appear. They have a habit of letting that power go to their heads.”

“How powerful are they compared to me?”

“You right now, they’re much more powerful. You in the future, they might be able to put up a fight, but chances are, you’ll be victorious. But like I said before, you meeting a poltergust isn’t very likely, so don’t worry about it. What you do need to worry about is demons. Ghosts and ghouls will live out their afterlives normally, but demons like to go around causing trouble,” Dr. Void said ominously. Then he suddenly turned chipper, “Anywho! Now that you understand the hierarchy of the Neitherworld, it’s time for you to begin your training.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I was inspired by TheArtofSuicide to try my hand at seeing what would happen if we gave Lydia the ability to not only see the dead but control them as well.  
2\. Chapters will probably get longer, or maybe they won’t. I don’t really know yet.  
3\. Constructive criticism is welcome!


End file.
